Boko Haram Defeat and the Bakassi Conundrum

After over 6 years of tormenting Nigeria, the Total Fall of Boko Haram (http://goo.gl/hep0C3) looks fast approaching.

The last one week has seen the Nigerian military and their Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) counterparts do great havoc on the camps and morale of the insurgents. Alas! The much dreaded Sambisa forest has now been invaded by the military.

News emerged on Thursday, February 19, that 158 women and children who were in Boko Haram camp were released and reunited with their families.

Also, in the last one week, the military has killed over 600 insurgents and have recovered, at least, 11 territories formerly under the control of Boko Haram. This is victory for Nigeria; a victory worth celebrating!

Unfortunately, the attitude of Nigerians to this victory has not been very encouraging. While it could be said that the government has not done enough over the years to tame the insurgents, Nigerians, especially the opposition, a lot of the times, fuel the fire of the insurgent’s campaign by spreading news of their victories over Nigeria, and doing little to spread the news of Nigeria’s victory over them.

Wars are first fought psychologically. In the Second World War, propagandas were used both by the Nazis and the Allied Forces. Also, the Cold War that dictated today’s course of global economy decades back was fought mainly through media propaganda and reports.

It is disturbing that most journalists and pseudo journalists who were (or are) very active in the distribution of information relating to Boko Haram victories do not see the need to do same for the successes the nation has witnessed in the last one week plus.

Okay, please calm down. My goal is not to castigate anyone. Here:

…the Nigerian culture has, however, evolved over the years. In 2037, the Nigerian president (who later got impeached), despite becoming unpopular as a result of his role in the Iseyin IT infrastructure project, got the “indirect” support of Nigerians when Cameroun started a “cold war” over the Bakassi Peninsula region.

The Nigerian media and citizens stood their ground against what they “continually” called Cameroun propaganda and made sure they watered down news indicting the Nigerian government of neglecting the people of Bakassi; even though it was an open secret that the government of Nigeria some 2 decades earlier actually did abandon Bakassi people.

Many Nigerian journalists and citizens went to the extent of writing their news and comments in French, Chinese and German in order to gather support from as many regions in the world as possible.

After 2 years of media propaganda between the two nations, the International Court of Justice upturned its earlier verdict and gave the region back to Nigeria over proven claims of Cameroun’s neglect and torment of the people of Bakassi. Nigeria would, however, have to part with some crude oil for 10 years. But this is still of comparative benefit to the nation and, more importantly, to the people of Bakassi who were resolute on being formally back under the government of their fatherland. (News on the recovery of Bakassi Peninsula still to come).

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